The Smugglers — Restaurant in Dover

This is most probably the best pub I've ever been to in the UK. Being an Anglophile from Austria and having crossed the channel nearly 100 times in the past three decades I honestly have never felt more "at home" in a pub as here - just a second after walking through the door the first time last autumn (The Smugglers even was partly responsible for our decision to come back to St Margarets for this summer). Our reasons seem, well, reasonable: First of all, this is not in any way one of those awful chain pubs that slowly destroy British pub culture. This is a proper country pub with all the trimmings 😉. Private owned, with the most lovely and friendly staff one can imagine - even we (despite being tourists and not local - which is usually a sure-shot-guarantee to being treated "a bit differently") are warmly welcomed every day with a genuine (!) smile and a little chat. The outside garden in the back: simply beautiful and very quiet - only "disturbed" a few times per day by the beautiful sound of vintage Spitfire planes roaring over the Kent coast. The menu? I've honestly never had better food in any of the +300 pubs I've been to in my lifetime. Literally everything from the menu tastes like directly from grandma's kitchen (in a good way, as my grandma was the best chef ever). All ingredients are locally sourced (and you can really taste this). Recommendations: THE perfect Sunday roast, of course - and on weekdays: Beef short rib, chicken roulade and (if travelling with a teenager like ourselves) an excellent pizza. Pub interior: beautifully decorated with lots of love to little details (this is NOT your typical boozer down the road with sticky floors and that one drunk guy falling asleep at the bar). I especially love the low beamed ceiling in the main room where the bar is.

To the landlord/landlady: Please don't ever change anything (apart from the...

A Brakebrother/Bookers special. We visited The Smugglers for one of Rishi's half price meals as it had recently been refurbished and had recived good reviews.

This place lacked the warmth you'd expect from a moderately priced restaurant and the staff seemed disinterested - which wasn't just towards us; but to everyone. We weren't asked how our meal was after it had been served and were given a more friendly wave goodbye than a welcome.

Upon arrival, our table wasn't prelaid, despite pre-booking a week previous. We were then given just one menu to share between the three of us. The service was slow, with our food taking an age to arrive - but I do appreciate that they were quite busy.

When our meals were received, we found the prawns in the salads to be rather bland and the lamb to be very chewy and dry, as if it had been quickly boiled in a bag. When charging £15+, you would expect better quality. However, the salmon in the salad was nice.

In regards to Covid-19, they were complying with government guidelines by taking our details upon arrival, having markings on the floor and hand sanitisers available.

Overall the meal was okay as we received the half price discount. Yet had we paid the full amount, we would have been left feeling sorely...

Better than average carvery! Been there couple of times recently. Lovely authentic British Pub, well worth a visit, but book, as it's not a huge place!

Update: Oct '23. Had a family meal there tonight. I tried the signature filet steak, which turned out to be raw in the middle. Shame, as the outside was lovely. First time I've tried the Madeira sauce. Reminds me of watered down marmite. It wasn't unpleasant, but I'll not be rushing to try it again. The "croutons" on the Ceasar salad were literally stale bread. The bill was adjusted for the steak, which was fair.

EDIT: (Next day) I researched into Madeira with a view to making one. Not sure what I had last night, but all records indicate it wasn't a Madeira sauce. It should have been considerably lighter and not like pourable Marmite. Apparently, it should have been a dark nutty colour, not jet black. There was also way too much of it. All-in-all, I think it ruined what was potentially a great cut of meat, but that wasn't cooked right either, so...